Canadian Olympic best ever result for 20-year-old cross-country skier Alison Mackie
Alison Mackie had never sat in the leader’s chair before the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
But the 20-year-old cross-country skier got that opportunity on Day 6, in the women’s 10km interval start event. Upon crossing the finish line, she held the fastest time of all finishers to that point and took a seat.
Mackie knew it would be short-lived. She’d started 23rd out of 111 competitors in a race where the athletes’ starts were staggered in 30-second intervals. Still, she wanted to soak up the moment at her first Olympics.
“I’ve actually never sat in a leader chair before,” said Mackie. “So yeah, it’s definitely a little bit overwhelming when you’re really tired at the end of the race.
“I wanted to get up as soon as I could so I could sit in the leader’s chair before someone came in faster than me. But yeah, it was pretty cool.”
And while others did come in faster than her, there weren’t that many of them.
At the race’s end, Mackie finished in eighth place, just 1:17.9 off the pace of gold medal winner Frida Karlsson of Sweden. Even more encouragingly, Mackie was just 28.2 seconds out of a podium finish. She now owns Canada’s best ever Olympic result in a women’s 10km in free technique.
“It was a really great race,” she said. “I had so much fun.
“The climbs were really, really hard, but I think that plays to my strengths as a skier.”
Mackie was one of four Canadians in the race, alongside Liliane Gagnon (17th), Sonjaa Schmidt (34th) and Katherine Stewart-Jones (47th). Both 23 years old, Gagnon and Schmidt were—like Mackie—making their Olympic debuts this year.
Mackie won two bronze medals at the 2025 FIS Junior World Championships, becoming the first Canadian woman to win a world junior championship medal in cross-country skiing since 1989. And she was the youngest finisher among the top 20 in the 10km event at Milano Cortina.
So while this may have been Mackie’s first chance to sit in the leader’s chair, it’s unlikely to be her last.